This is one of the first kuchens I had to learn how to make when I was living in Germany. I am happy with the way my quest for a healthier kuchen bottom turned out for this recipe. Usually, it is made with lots of butter. One version also incorporated speise quark, but I can’t find that here anymore. So I have tried Greek yogurt with gluten free flour (Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix, also wheat free) ground almonds, and ginger with lemon zest. It came out really well! For the topping I will offer two versions-the healthier one with yogurt (fage) and the traditional one with cream. Although I like the yogurt version (featured here in photos) I prefer the cream, so that is what I recommend. For this kuchen I used Santa Rosa plums, which are red and juicy. The usual Italian plums I like are not yet available here. I made 2 six inch kuchens with this recipe. This is a delicious, easy and pretty healthy dessert. The crust has an envelope of flavors to house the plum filling. Sapa and sumac are a new combination I am continuing to try in many of my recipes this week. For more background on these, see my recent recipes. They work really well with the plums. Without them this recipe would still be good, but it is better with them. What I strive to do is make this as tart as possible, by adding the minimal amount of sugar to showcase the true fruit flavors. But since this varies so much upon the fruit and personal taste, the quantity for this can really vary. I hope you can approximate that perfect balance for yourself.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup ground almonds (you can use a coffee grinder)
- 5-6 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 tablespoons thick greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar- optional
- 1 yoke of an egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1 whole egg
- 1 white of an egg (left over from the bottom)
- 5-7 tablespoons organic cane sugar (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons honey (acacia works well)
- 1 teaspoon ground sumac
- 1 tablespoon sapa
- 2 cups sweet small varietal plums, depitted
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (or you can substitute 4 tbl. greek yogurt for a healthier version)
Instructions:
- Mix the ingredients of the bottom together until you have a crumbly mixture. Add the extra tablespoon of canola oil if the mix seems dry.
- Press this dough into the bottom of your baking dish or dishes (two 6″). You want the dough to be between 1/8″ and 1/4 ” thick. Create side walls. These should be @ 1″ tall. Crunch the edge down a bit with your thumb prints to even out the perimeter. Set the pastry shell(s) aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat the whole egg together with the extra egg white.
- Whisk in the honey and sugar.
- Add the sumac, Sapa, and cream (or yogurt).
- Pour this mix into the pressed shell(s). It should come up the walls about 2/3 of the way. Do not overfill. You might have some leftover filling you can use baking a plum or peach without any crust.
- Add the depitted plums to the kuchen. Bake 25 minutes or so until browned lightly on top.
- Let cool. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream or both. This is even better the next day.
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